Friday, 26 February 2010

This is Vanessa with my last post as Aimes' and Kate's featured stamper. *Sob*. I so enjoyed sharing my work with you and appreciated all your sweet comments! A friend had her second baby recently and I made her this little set for her son:

Love to use the PTI gable boxes for this purpose! They have the perfect size for baby gifts. I tried to make it look clean, because it is for a boy - for a girl I would have used more embellishments and nick-nacks :)

I hope you like it! Thank you for visiting and thanks again to Kate and Aimes! You are so sweet and I adore your work!

"I was still on my masking kick for this challenge so decided to make a card very similar to the one I sent Kate for her birthday. I hope you're not too bored of the design, I love how those flowers and leaves 'pop' against the black!"

I really need my Plum Pudding ink to reach my place as I don't think Raspberry Fizz quite fits in with my rainbow of stars LOL! Ah well, it was a super easy peasy card to make so I may make a few more for my 'stash'!

If you find you've got a few spare moments this weekend, there's still time to enter our Valentine's Challenge. I know Valentine was SO last weekend but anything with a love kinda theme counts ;D!

Wednesday, 17 February 2010

Did you all enjoy Papertrey's February releases? Did you treat yourself to any goodies?!

It was such a fun countdown with plenty of fabulous challenges to bide our time until the big release - here's the only challenge I was able to take part in - Nichole set a challenge to make some floral embellishments and use them on a card.

Inspired by the introduction of PTI felt I reached for my own felt collection and made some felt embellies in colours that roughly matched Raspberry Fizz and Aqua Mist:

Happy Wednesday! I hope your week is going OK? Mine is zooming by because I've got the week off work - typical eh?!

I don't know about you but I'm ready for Spring now! Though we've had no snow this week (I know some parts of the UK have) I'm getting bored of being cold and not seeing so much of the sun. Let's see if this card can help spring come along sooner:

The idea for this card originated from this card by Maile Belles. Do you recognise the tree? Yup, it's no other than the tree from my Holiday Tree set! My main reason for my passion for PTI is how their sets are so versatile - who'd have thought a holiday tree would be suitable for a spring card? Well once it's decorated with some polka dots (yup, still lovin' 'em!) this tree could be a tree for all seasons depending on what colours you'd use! I've gone for pink blossom today, but tomorrow I could go for a mix of greens for summer or even some reds and oranges for autumn!

Not into decorating trees? Well how about making your own DP with it? This card was totally inspired by the packaging you get from Dorset Cereals products (not affiliated with the company btw, just lovin' their muesli and porridge ;D) The DP is made from the other tree from my Holiday Tree set.

This 3x3 card was created for one of the many challenges to celebrate PTI's 3rd anniversary. I had such fun playing along when I could. My jaw continued to hit the floor with each new product they revealed. Shame we've gotta wait a while for some of them though as they sold like hotcakes! Good job I totally know they'll be worth the wait ;D

Monday, 15 February 2010

Hi and Happy Monday everybody, this is Vanessa having the honour to post a project today!

I love tea. I always did - never drank any coffee before I was like 23 or so. Now I finally bought the adorable "Tea for Two" set and don't know what took me so long! Couldn't wait to ink it up and wanted to create something special. So I made this:

I sewed this tea cosy and made two tea pot appliqués, stamping the image onto the floral fabric, cutting it out and ironing one on each side of the cosy.

Then I tried to create matching teapots on paper for the bag and the card. To achieve this I used images from the "Turning a New Leaf" set and "Beautiful Blooms" set. The glassine bag contains my new favourite herbal tea, called "Happiness" (and it works!!).

That's it. I hope you like my little set!

Have a great week everybody! And thanks again to Aimes and Kate, it's so exciting to post here!

I made this after being tempted to play along with the Painting by Numbers challenge set by Nichole Heady (I admit the chance of winning a $100 PTI gift certificate helped ;D) and what was also super fun was that the colour combo depended on what the first letter of your online name was! Known as Aimes, I was given this colour combo:I've gotta say that it's not my fave colour combo out of the bunch and I did seriously consider changing my online user name LOL!

On top of the colours, you get a very detailed sketch to follow along with accurate measurements!I think you can probably tell I struggled; totally flipped the sketch around to make it work and also had a lil' accident with the sentiment! I made a beeline for those polka dots and then tried to emboss the sentiment after - big mistake! Embossing powder stuck to lots of dots as well as my sentiment (even though I went off to watch Glee for an hour before stamping the sentiment!) so after brushing away the powder I attempted to rescue it with a white gel pen! I think it's OK but it bugs me that it's not perfect...

...and for this weekend I think I may have to pop back to this challenge to check out those other gorgeous colour combos I can play with regardless of the first letter of my online name!

I hope y'all still enjoying the celebrations on Nichole's blog. I can't believe each new product they've released, it just gets better and better and more and more unbelievable! I'm in PTI heaven! The dies have got me really excited, I'd love to hear what you're excited about too!

Monday, 8 February 2010

Happy Monday! Apologies for this challenge being posted later than I wanted - I'm in the midst of a stinkin' cold which took pleasure in taking over my weekend :o(

Enough sniffling and moaning from me though, are you ready for a new challenge?! I hope so because for this one we want you to get 'loved-up' and think 'Valentine's' with your creations. Remember it doesn't have to be restricted to a card and can be a little valentine treat for anyone! Don't panic, it doesn't have to be one huge slushfest on a card declaring your love for someone! If you'd rather, you could think about just featuring one aspect of Valentine's (e.g Hearts) on your creation.

Well my example started with this one card...

..and by the end of my inky session, it turned into this!

These are a cute 3x3 inches in size - so sweet! I'm selling these at work to raise money for the British Heart Foundation - I've sold a few today! If some don't sell, I can always sneak them into my guy's packed lunch for the remainder of the year ;D

Wow! What a fabulous turn out for our 'nature' challenge! Thanks to all that played along, I have to say that many of you are tempting me with the Bird Watching Stamp Set after seeing your wonderful creations...

Sunday, 7 February 2010

The friend who I made this card for absolutely ADORES anything purple. I can't say I care that much for it on the whole but after making this card felt a bit more fond of it! I'm just loving these new pastel papers!

Have you been jumping with excitement at all the announcements on Nichole's blog to celebrate Papertrey's third birthday?! The dies.... THE FELT??!!!! Oh my!! I'd better go and cut up my credit card right now!!

Don't forget to check back tomorrow for a brand new challenge, including some beautiful projects from Vanessa, our February Featured Stamper!

Friday, 5 February 2010

TGI FRIDAY, PEEPS!!! I dunno about you, but this week has felt like it's lasted sooooo long; anything to do with Groundhog day y'think?!

Just sharing a lovey dovey creation today. Get used to it as we build up to Valentine's day!

I actually made this a while back when I was stuck at home surrounded by snow (we had another dollop of it yesterday but luckily it's thawed already!)

This card is another 'mini card' measuring only 2.5" x 4.25" which makes it all the more sweeter I think!

I downloaded the sample of Simple Valentine DP and used it for the aperture. I love that the sample size is scaled down so it works so well with mini-cards!

Just before I sign off, if you haven't already you MUST check out Nichole's blog! You can enter for the chance to win every PTI stamp set released for the whole of 2010! OMG how amazing would that be?! You can enter by clicking here

Wednesday, 3 February 2010

I just have to say first thanks so much for all your wonderful comments about my recent PTI Guest Star Stamper News. I feel truly blessed to be part of such a wonderful community! {{{{{{HUGS}}}}}}

OK slushfest over and back to business!

I'm sooooo glad to see that people are getting the hang of Mister Linky for entering our challenges. Thanks to Ann for pointing out that you have to be on the whole blog site rather than the individual challenge post to see the Mister Linky logo. I haven't been able to wrack my brains around this one yet so all I can suggest is that if you're wanting to to enter, then click on our blog header and scroll down to our challenge post. If you're having any problems you can enter the old fashioned way and we'll manually enter you into Mister Linky ourselves before we draw a winner.

And speaking of winner I thought I'd give you a peek of what you could be winning if you enter:(Apologies for the lack of pics, I was going to set this prize up as a pretty picture but I'm away from my camera!)

One Sheet of each design of the gorgeous DP - Simple Valentine(6 sheets in total)

2 Sheets of coordinating cardstock in the following colours (6 sheets in total):

Monday, 1 February 2010

I can't believe it's February 1st already - can you?!! With the turn in the month we get to introduce to you our brand new Featured Stamper, and this month I'm thrilled to introduce Vanessa Menhorn to you!!

Vanessa, from Germany, has been a long-time friend and supporter of our blog so we were delighted that she agreed to join us this month.

Here are a few questions she answered for us so we could get to know her a bit better!

1)How did you get into papercrafting?

I guess I started papercrafting when I was a child. When I was little I loved to do Origami, I tried to do some drawing and the usual crafting stuff like knitting or sewing or making pottery. But I got into cardmaking when I started stamping - less than a year ago. Now I am addicted!

2)How long have you been stamping for?

I have been stamping since March 2009

3)How did you get into PTI and why do you love it so much?

I accidentially found Nichole Heady`s blog and fell in love with the stamps immediately! I resisted for a while - I hadn`t bought anything from the US before and was a bit intimidated by the shipping costs, but once I started ordering them I couldn`t stop! They are versatile, beautiful and inspiring! And the paper, ribbons and buttons are perfect!

4)What would you say is your stamping style?

Most often I do simple/elegant stamping, but I like to use different or new techniques and that changes my style sometimes. And it depends on the recipient - e.g. I like to create cute things for kids.

5)Do you have a favourite PTI colour or colour combo that just makesyou drool?

It changes too often - I love to try new colour combos!

6)If you had to choose just one PTI stamp set to keep, which onewould it be and why?

I don`t like this question :) Don`t want to imagine this! But ok, I`ll try. I would keep Damask Designs, because I can create Backgrounds with it, there are great sentiments and I can use the larger images for a focal element!

7)Who is your PTI Idol?

Nichole Heady. Her style is amazing, she never disappoints! But this whole Design Team is fabulous - I admire them all!

8)Where do you get your inspiration from?

Blogworld is the place to gather inspiration! And I love to flip through magazines (papercrafts related, fashion or home decor) to find elements or colours that inspire me.

9)What`s your stamping dream?

Being on a Design Team! And I wish I could earn my money with what I love doing best - stamping!

Thanks so much for joining us Vanessa! We're looking forward to seeing some of your fabulous work in the coming weeks!

Before I go - don't forget to check out Nichole's blog for the next 15 days as she counts us down to this months BIG release - it's the third anniversary of Papertrey Ink and it looks like there are going to be some exciting things coming our way.... I can hardly wait!!

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The Passion for Papertrey Girls!

(from left: Kate Lewis, Caryn Davies, Amy Wanford)

Welcome to A Passion for Papertrey - a place where lovers of Papertrey Ink can get together to share ideas, inspiration, take part in challenges and join swaps!

We're Kate, Aimes and Caryn - we all live in the UK and became friends thanks to our mutual love of all things Papertrey. We soon found out there were lots of other fans in the UK and Europe and thought there should be a corner of the web to bring us together.

Of course we welcome readers from around the world but our primary aim is to unite stampers who use Papertrey products from the UK and the rest of Europe.

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Every fortnight we will set a challenge using Papertrey products AND at the end of each challenge we will randomly draw a winner who will recieve some Papertrey goodies! This may be a roll of ribbon, a selection of papers and matching cardstock or even a stamp set!!

We know that as it is an overseas company you may not have a large collection of stamps and Papertrey colours so these will be kept quite general.

For example if you don't have the Papertrey colours you could use one of their stamps and cardstock/papers from other companies, or get creative with just some Papertrey papers and ribbon - the main thing is to have fun!

We'd love to be able to share the projects that you've made with your Papertrey products! We're always looking for Papertrey projects so if you would like yours to be featured on here email us at apassionforpapertrey(at)yahoo(dot)com

Need inspiration? We will regularly feature Papertrey projects from stampers around the world - these may be the Papertrey Design team or other stampers who inspire us to use our Papertrey products in new ways.

We will be organising swaps for stampers to exchange their projects. Details coming soon!